Star Rank Hunter

Chapter 257: Genya

Cillin knew that the old man was very excited because he hadn’t let go off his collar even after they had entered Gen Xingming’s flying car. Moreover, he was clearly anxious about something the way his legs trembled like he had hypocalcemia and dealt with the pursuers behind them very impatiently.

In the affiliated schools, under certain special circumstances, the school patrols were allowed to exceed the speed limit. No one else, no matter who they were was permitted to do the same thing. However, not only had Gen Liao pushed the speedometer to the max, he even took a few ‘shortcuts’ to shorten the distance between two points as much as possible. He also completely ignored the warning blares of the patrols and robot enforcers behind them.

Maybe it was because the school patrols and robot enforcers were being too noisy and irritating, but Gen Liao called a few members of the school’s higher management directly and spoke in a very, very impolite tone. He obviously didn’t care for their replies because he had cut off the call the moment he was done talking, leaving the people on the other side of the communicator green with fury.

Half a minute later, the school patrols and robot enforcers were recalled. It was why it caused all those who saw the flying car some confusion. They thought: where are the pursuers? There were plenty of people who tried to car race inside the affiliated schools before, and the offenders were always dragged away by the school patrols and robot enforcers and punished without exception. This car in particular hadn’t just broken every rule, it wasn’t even flying in accordance to the designated flyway! The arrogance!

Some students dutifully recorded the flying car and sent a footage to the closest surveillance console, but the personnel sitting in front of the monitors feigned muteness the second they noticed that it was that car.

By the time Gen Liao drove all the way to the airport, a big spaceplane with the Gen Family’s insignia on it was already waiting for them. The spaceplane departed the planet not long after Gen Liao drove the car inside.

Even after the two of them had exited the flying car and entered a private lounge, Gen Liao still hadn’t let go of Cillin’s collar. It was almost as if he was afraid that Cillin would run away the second he let go. He didn’t say anything or explain himself, but it was clear to everyone that the man was surrounded by a terrible aura that bespoke massive urgency and irritation. Naturally, no one was stupid enough to engage him and be yelled at.

The spaceplane was headed straight towards the Gen Family’s territory in the imperial capital. The royal family’s, or more specifically the Fuji King’s official residence could be found on a planet there. All the people staying on that planet were VVIPs such as Gen Liao, Gen Xingchen, Gen Xingming and so on.

The planet was also called Planet Fuji*. If someone were to view the planet from space, they would find patches of green that looked like the green of forests or lakes. It was a planet filled with life and vitality.

*Generally speaking, Fu means Happiness and Ji means Luck

The spaceplane landed directly at a corner inside the palace. Still holding Cillin by the collar, Gen Liao impatiently ran towards a certain courtyard.

This courtyard was Gen Liao’s permanent residence after he relinquished the throne to his successor. It wasn’t far from the Fuji King’s residence, and it was the most heavily guarded place in the entire planet. The guards were intrigued by Cillin’s identity when they saw Gen Liao dragging the young man straight towards the courtyard, but they wisely kept their thoughts in their heads, maintained a serious outlook and looked steadily towards the front.

There was an incredibly thick tree in Gen Liao’s courtyard, a tree that Cillin was very familiar with since young. It was the Elder Tree Fuji. It looked just like the tree in Genya’s courtyard, except that this tree had a much thicker trunk and a lot more leaves. It was superior to Genya’s tree in every way.

Gen Liao shooed away the servants so that they would be alone. The guards protecting the courtyard outside were all his trusted aides.

Finally, the hand that gripped Cillin’s collar all this time had loosened. Cillin rubbed his neck once, knowing that there was a line around his neck even without looking. The old man was old, but he had a surprisingly strong pair of hands. It was almost like he was dragging a chick, not a man.

Gen Liao pressed a switch on a wall to reveal a green pond. Then, he took out the coffin and put it carefully into the water.

The moment the coffin came into contact with the water, a huge amount of bubbles suddenly appeared from the gaps between the wood. At the same time, the lid of the coffin suddenly came loose.

Cillin stared at the pond unblinkingly as a rare ripple of emotion coursed through his heart. He seemed to have an inkling what was going to happen next.

Meanwhile, Wheeze’s head slowly poked out from Cillin’s shoulder. Wheeze had no idea how to handle the old man’s excited reactions at the time, so it simply clung onto Cillin and allowed itself to be brought all the way to this courtyard. Since the old man hadn’t tried to shoo or throw it out, and the guards hadn’t shown any reaction whatsoever, Wheeze successfully made it into the courtyard in one piece.

Naturally, Wheeze was aware of Cillin’s heightened heart rate. It was why it was curious about the old man’s actions in the first place.

There was a person lying inside the coffin — it knew about this since a long time ago — but what on earth was he planning to do? Was he going to perform an autopsy or something?

Pata —

The lid off the coffin finally came off entirely and floated to the surface. It was pushed to the side by the turbulent pond water, revealing the man lying inside the coffin.

Genya looked just the same as the day he put him into the coffin was before, peaceful and serene. This time though, there was a notable difference. This time, Cillin could clearly sense the life in him.

No wonder he told me to bury him like that. No wonder...

Gen Liao tremblingly jumped into the pond and pulled out a syringe. Then, he injected the content of the syringe into Genya’s body. His life force grew stronger, and his heartbeat turned from unnoticeable to powerful.

Genya never died. His metabolism just came to a near complete stop, giving off the false impression that he was dead. The Fuji tree’s plant hormones had reanimated his suspended metabolism, and with enough care and nutrition, it was only a matter of time Genya before recovers.

Gen Liao threw the syringe away and let out a coarse “haha” sound. It sounded like both like a laugh and a cry.

Since Gen Liao had his back to Cillin, he wasn’t able to see the old man’s expression right now. However, he could sense his feelings keenly from his breathing rhythm.

He was the same.

Genya floated up to the surface, and Gen Liao carefully put his brother into the medical pod just next to the pond. The pod would automatically provide the patient with the most suitable nutrients and air in accordance to their condition and physiological needs.

Cillin and Gen Liao stood next to the medical pod and waited in silence. The only sounds present in the courtyard were the pod’s beeps and Wheeze licking itself.

An hour later, the indicator light turned from red to green, and Genya opened his eyes.

The lid of the pod opened.

Genya’s eyes moved about before focusing at the two people standing in front of him. At first, he looked a little dazed and unfocused — his eyesight was still a little unclear — but gradually, his eyes got used to the light and regained its function.

“Cillin...”

His voice was raspy in a way that betrayed his recovery from a long time illness just a moment ago, but it still sounded as gentle as it was many years ago. It was almost as if time had rewinded itself back to that courtyard of memories, where Genya sat on his wooden rocking chair under the Fuji tree, bathing under a scatter of light and mumbling slowly with every creak.

Cillin, please grab me a bottle of wine, will you? Do make sure it’s a strong one...

Cillin, please massage my back for a bit, will you? Your master isn’t as tough as he used to be, it gets painful if I lie around for too long...

Cillin, please...

Cillin felt like crying after hearing the voice he hadn’t heard for such a long time. He raised his hands to cover his warming eyes, but he couldn’t help but look through the gaps and stare at the man inside the pod.

It is good to be alive.

Wheeze blinked once as he glanced at the man inside the pod, then at the old man with a pissed off expression and blue veins popping out of his forehead. It sways its tail once and giggled on the inside. Guess who’s forgotten? You are! Hehehe.

Gen Liao was pretty angry right now. Did he not rush all the way back from the affiliated school just to revive this little bastard as quickly as possible? He’s just as heartless as the day he left without a word! Suffice to say, Gen Liao felt like running his head against a wall the second his brother spoke up. He was all set for Genya letting an emotional “brother!” cry, but no, it was the name “Cillin” that came out from his mouth first. In that moment, Gen Liao had felt like he had turned into a black-and-white sketch in the background*.

*in mangas or animes, sometimes characters will turn into black-and-white sketches that makes them look like irrelevant or ‘the third wheel’ of a scene, giving off the impression ‘why the fuck are you even in this scene? GET OUT’. I believe that’s what the author is alluding to.

Genya finally shifted his gaze and looked at Gen Liao after his older brother’s face was starting to contort with fury. After staying quiet for half a minute, he finally said the word “brother?” tentatively.

When Genya left the planet, he was just a young man at the prime of his life. He hadn’t expected to meet his brother again only after they had both gotten old. However, blood ties is a truly miraculous thing. Although their appearances had been distorted beyond recognition by age, Genya could still sense the familial bonds that tied the two of them together.

Genya smiled before Gen Liao could form an answer. He was certain that the person standing before him was his own brother, the man who was chosen to succeed the throne, Gen Liao.

It had been so many years. When he left, Gen Liao hadn’t yet succeeded the throne. When he returned, Gen Liao was already a retired man.

Although Cillin wanted very much to speak with Genya, he was conscious enough to rein in his desires and leave the two brothers alone for the moment. He should probably stay out of earshot while the two men talk about those old secrets that weren’t meant for his ears.

“Cillin, I’ll come look for you later.” Genya told Cillin.

“Okay.”

Cillin grabbed the gray cat and went out the door. The guards standing at the entrance shot him a glance and was just about to ask him something when Gen Liao’s voice came from inside: “Take him to a room where he can rest!”

An old servant walked over with a smile comparable to that of a blooming chrysanthemum* and took him and Wheeze to a room.

*do you know that in Chinese this word is a slang for anus? :P It’s a derogatory term that implies that some people are willing to go so far to please you that they’re willing to let you plow them from behind...

“I didn’t know your master is a member of the Gen Family, Cillin! The royal family, and the younger brother of the former Fuji King! Hehe, we don’t have to worry about cash from here on!”

Cillin: “...”

Gen Liao’s senior servant treated Cillin like his own grandson. Despite his age, he had worked with Gen Liao for a very long time. In fact, his status in the family was so special that the branch families of the Gen Family had to use honorifics when speaking with him. Not even Gen Xingming dared to order him around as he pleased, which was why his dedicated treatment to Cillin was an incredible rarity.

When the next day arrived, Cillin finally got to meet Genya once more. Genya brought up the topic of the ring and told him that only those who were very respected members of the Gen Family were allowed to wear it, or that was how it used to be in the past. Since Genya had already made up his mind to pass down the ring to Cillin, Gen Liao didn’t object against his wish.

If Cillin hadn’t existed, this reunion would never have happened. Gen Liao definitely felt grateful towards him.

Genya had drifted in the outside world for a very long time. He had never gotten married, and he had never had a child of his own. Although they had the technology to artificially create an offspring, it still wasn’t a process that could be completed immediately.

The fact that Genya had passed on his ring, an important symbol of the Gen Family to Cillin and not his offspring meant that Cillin’s special identity had been officially recognized. This meant that Cillin was now even more special in the family than Gen Liao’s senior servant. Although he didn’t have the right to succeed the throne, his treatment was equal to that of a prince of the Gen Family like Gen Xingming, if not better. It was because he was backed by two senior elders of the Gen Family.

Genya used to have a large courtyard house to himself. Unfortunately, the incident occurred not long after. It was why he felt rather emotional when he set foot inside his house many dozens of years later.

From this day onwards, both Genya and Cillin would be living in this courtyard house. When Genya passed away, Cillin would succeed everything in the house and more than half of Genya’s personal belongings. He would’ve given Cillin everything if some of these properties weren’t tied too closely with the Gen Family, so he left those to Gen Liao instead. After being stranded in a foreign world for so long, Genya’s competitiveness had long since been worn down by time. He was satisfied with just being able to return to his roots before he passed away.

There was also a thousand-year old Fuji tree in the courtyard. Its canopy spanned half the courtyard, and it was like an enlarged version of the tree in his memories.

Genya once told him that the Fuji trees had an intelligence of their own. It was a like a cross species between animals and plants. The Fuji tree wasn’t as animate as the shifting plants Cillin saw back in the other galaxy. Once it had chosen a spot to settle its roots, it would probably stay there until the end of its life, hundreds or thousands of years later.

For whatever reason, the Fuji tree’s liveliness seemed to be intricately tied to the Gen Family bloodline. Someone could try to transplant the Fuji tree somewhere else and provide them with the best possible living conditions, but they would never grow as well as the the Gen Family’s.

There were a lot of thousand-year-old Fuji trees on this planet. They looked very lush and vibrant, and they looked unblemished despite the test of time. However, they had undoubtedly lived for hundreds and thousands of years. They had witnessed the Gen Family’s thousands of years of development, the birth and death of every generation, the fall of the old and the rise of the new, and many, many more changing times.

Cillin supported Genya and walked him to the Fuji tree. Its enormous tree trunk and thick, winding roots was a testament to its longevity. Outside the courtyard, there were weaving roads, towering buildings, flying cars and soaring spaceplanes. It was a scenery that could make one lose track of the passage of time. Genya stared at the ancient tree of his memories; the gatherers of hundreds of years of time and space and stayed quiet for a very, very long time.

Genya had just recovered from a long illness, so he went back to his room to rest after staying in the courtyard for a while, leaving Cillin to ‘walk’ his cat in his lonesome.

Wheeze was obviously very excited, jumping from one tree branch to another like it was a pine tree. Occasionally, it would shake itself to sleep on a tree branch or climb to the top of the canopy to revel in its own magnificence*.

*you may substitute the above sentence with: “... canopy to mastrubate itself.” for a more, er, fitting description.

“Cillin! Cillin!” Wheeze ran over and climbed up Cillin’s shoulder in an instant. “Are we a millionaire now?!!”

Of course Wheeze was aware that Genya had given Cillin a lot of belongings. “We”, it said. For whatever reason, Wheeze seemed to think of itself and Cillin as one entity since the beginning. If Cillin was rich, then Wheeze was rich too since Cillin always bought anything it wanted.

Wheeze started picking its paws and wondered what it wanted to buy. Right now, the thing it desired the most weren’t fish biscuits or full fish course. Right now, it wanted a fish pond.

Wheeze’s wish was fulfilled the next day. On the same night it had mentioned about it during dinner, and the next it jumped out of the window, stretched its back and discovered that a fish pond had appeared in the courtyard.

It was Genya who had ordered the construction of the two hundred square meters wide fish pond. With the drill robots’ aid, the workers were able to finish it in a single night. Right now, the gray cat was walking circles around its fish pond, its territory while the fishes swam leisurely at the center.

Wheeze thought to itself for a moment before going away. It rolled the egg it hadn’t eaten all this time all the way to the edge of the pond, raised a paw, and pushed it straight into the pond.

“You’re trying to hatch this egg, aren’t you? Are you sure it can hatch inside the water?” Gen Xingming asked. The young man was standing not far away from the pond.

After learning that Cillin had become a member of the Gen Family, Gen Xingming resolutely skipped school in the name of visiting his elders.

“Really?” Wheeze flicked its ears in response. In the end, it reluctantly jumped into the pond and threw the egg back up like it was just a ball. The way the gray cat was handling it, Gen Xingming wondered if the egg would fall apart one day.

“Oh right, I heard that your teacher is pretty angry.” Gen Xingming turned to face Cillin.

Many people knew that Guan Feng had a pretty bad temper. Although he looked pretty amiable in the norm, he was the kind of person who found it difficult to calm down once he was piqued. It was why a lot of people were wondering how Guan Feng was going to punish Cillin. Obviously, it was an open secret Guan Feng and the Gen Family were at odds with each other. It was why no one from the Gen Family had ever been a student of Guan Feng, until Cillin.

Really, Guan Feng had students in pretty much every distinguishable power there was. The Gen Family used to be the sole exception to the rule, but now the rule was broken because of Cillin. As a result, there were countless people who were just waiting for the day he became a laughingstock.

Cillin wasn’t actually worried about this. Guan Feng was no fool; on the contrary, he was aware of their connection since a long time ago. The fact that he never told Cillin to cut ties with the Gen Family or something proved that Guan Feng didn’t actually care as much as most people thought he was. Plus, he allowed Gen Liao to enter his house, hadn’t he? This was also proof that Guan Feng and the Gen Family’s relationship wasn’t so bad that it was absolutely irreconcilable.

Genya was walking slowly towards the courtyard. He smiled when he heard their conversation. “Ah, Guan Feng. It’s been so many years. He really should’ve let go already, but I guess he’s still as stubborn and awkward as he used to many years ago.”

T/N: I cut the chapter title short because I don’t want to spoil things immediately, but it actually says: “Meeting Genya Once More”